Hollywood actors and studios clash over Internet clips

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Getting Hollywood actors paid for
their smallest performances -- video clips on the Internet --
is shaping up as one their biggest sticking points in
stalemated contract negotiations with major studios.

Whether actors must give consent for snippets of their film
and TV work to be displayed online, and how much they should
earn for them, was the No. 1 disputed issue cited by the Screen
Actors Guild after labor talks broke down last Tuesday.

Studios want to freely distribute YouTube-style clips of
old TV shows and movies without seeking actors' permission and
pay them a flat fee rather than bargain on a price with each
performer individually.

The actors' union staunchly opposes that move.

"What they're asking us to do is erase 50 years of our
customs and practice," SAG President Alan Rosenberg said in a
recent interview.

The debate is the latest example of how the economics of
traditional media are being upended by the growing popularity
of video-sharing Web sites like YouTube, and how audiences'
tastes and habits are being transformed in the process.

The bulk of what they see consists of homemade footage and
unauthorized clips of TV shows and movies, some of it blended
into video "mash-ups" like the popular "Brokeback to the
Future" parody trailer poking fun at the "Back to the Future"
movies and the gay cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain."
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